Visual Perception

Perceptual Set
Look closely at the illustration of a seal act for a
circus in the figure below. What do you see?
 Would you have seen it
differently without the cue?
O You may have identified a seal balancing a
ball on its nose with its trainer on the right
holding a fish in one hand and a stick in the
other.
O However, if you had been told that this
picture was of a costume party, how would
you then have described it? Would your
perception of the same illustration have
been different?
Look at this picture of a rabbit
Look at this picture of a duck
 What influences Visual
Perception?
O Many factors influence visual perception.
Generally, these can be categorized into two
groups called physiological and psychological
factors.
O Physiological factors involve the ways in which
our eyes, nervous system and brain process
visual information.
O Psychological factors involve mental processes
such as our past experiences, socio-cultural
background, memory, thinking, language,
motivations, emotions and so on
 Perceptual Set
O Perceptual set is the predisposition, or
readiness, to perceive something in
accordance with what we expect it to be.
O Our expectations of what an object or event
will be make us more likely to interpret the
object or event in the predetermined way.
Perceptual set is often referred to as
expectancy
Try to think of examples when Perceptual
Set (could be good and bad)
O Visual perception can be assisted by
perceptual set when we correctly anticipate
what something is and therefore interpret it
more quickly.
O Sometimes, however, perceptual set can
lead to mistakes in perception. Our
expectations of what something might be
may cause us to notice only the information
that is consistent with our expectations and
ignore or overlook information that may be
relevant
What can affect perceptual
set?
O There are several factors that can influence or
bring about perceptual set. Most of these involve
personal characteristics of the perceiver, such
as:
O their motivation
O emotional state
O past experience
O cultural background.
O Other factors that affect perceptual set involve
what is being perceived or the conditions under
which it is being perceived, such as the context.
 Context
O In visual perception, context refers to the
setting or environment in which a perception
is made. When organising and interpreting
visual information, we take account of the
setting and pay more attention to those
aspects of the setting that are immediately
relevant.
O In this way, context has a focusing role in visual
perception and usually assists us to make a quick and
accurate interpretation of what we are looking at.
Context how would you
perceive this in different
places?
For example, consider the different
interpretations that could be made
of a fast-moving bright light in the
sky that has a tail streaking behind
it. How would you interpret this
visual stimulus if you observed it in
the sky over:
outback central Australia?
a war zone?
Cape Canaveral, Florida?
a ship at sea?
Are the two white circles the same size?
Which monster is bigger?
Bruner and Minturn
Experiment
Bruner and Minturn
Experiment
 What happened in the real
experiment?
O The importance of context in visual perception was first
demonstrated in an experiment by American cognitive
psychologists Jerome Bruner and Leigh Minturn (1955).
O In this experiment, one group of participants who were
assigned the role of observers (Group A) was shown a visual
stimulus for 80 thousandths of a second using a tachistoscope
after viewing the series of letters L, M, Y, A. Another group of
observers (Group B) was shown the same visual stimulus for
the same exposure time after viewing the series of numbers
16, 17, 10, 12.
O The task given to each group of observers was to identify what
they saw and to draw it. Results from Group A (who saw the
letters first) indicated that 92% of the participants perceived
the visual stimulus as a B. For Group B (who saw the numbers
first), 83% of the participants perceived the visual stimulus as
a 13
Outcome of the Experiment
O Bruner and Minturn concluded that
the context of either letters or
numbers set, or predisposed the
observers to interpret the ambiguous
symbol in accordance with the type
of symbols that had preceded it. A
perceptual set, or expectancy, had
been established by the time the
ambiguous figure was shown.
Observers expected the next symbol
to be one that was consistent with
the established context.
 Motivation
O Motivation can also influence perceptual
set. Motivation refers to processes within us
which activate behaviour that is directed
towards achieving a particular goal. Motives
can be influenced by psychological factors
(such as interests, ambitions and desires) or
physiological factors (such as bodily
responses associated with hunger or thirst).
O Think of some examples when motivation
might effect your perceptual set
 Visual perception can be
influenced by our motives
O For example, we see what we want to see, rather
than what is actually there. When supporters of
opposing teams are sitting side by side at a football
match, the difference in their perceptions of the
same event may be considerable.
 Emotional State
O Our emotional state how we are feeling can
also influence the way in which we perceive
visual information. Different emotions can set
us to perceive information in a particular way
which is consistent with the emotion being
experienced.
O For example, a child who is afraid of being in
their darkened bedroom may interpret the
shadow of their dressing gown hanging on the
back of the bedroom door as a ghost, or the
teddy bear sitting on the end of the bed as a
monster.
O Think of some examples
 Past Experience
O Past experience refers to our personal
experiences throughout our lives. This
includes everything we learn through
experience, both intentionally and
unintentionally. Our unique combination of
past experiences can lead to many
individual differences in perception. Such
experiences also predispose, or set us to
perceive information in a particular way.
O THINK OF SOME EXAMPLES
 Cultural
O Culture refers to the way of life of a particular
community or group that sets it apart from other
communities and groups. Culture includes such
things as the customs, traditions, beliefs, values,
attitudes, rules about what is right and wrong,
music and food, as well as any other features of
that community or group which distinguish it
from other communities, or groups.
O Experience with or in a particular culture can
influence the way we process and interpret
visual information.
Example the Malawi People
from Tanzania
O Before the Malawi people had access to photographs, a
group of them were shown a black and white photograph of
a dog. Despite the fact that many of the observers owned
dogs or had experience with dogs, they were unable to
identify the subject of the photograph as a dog. Even when
the various features of the dog such as the head, ears and
tail were pointed out to them, many of the Malawi people
still had difficulty interpreting the photograph as a dog and,
in some cases, the specific features of the dog, such as the
paws and tail (Deregowski, 1980).

O Think of some other

examples